Orbitofrontal Cortex and Emotional Value

As a armchair historian and anthropologist, I enjoy reading about new discoveries in our evolution. This article in Discover Magazine is a very interesting read. But what popped out to me was the following quote:

The orbitofrontal cortex is a crucial node in our emotional network, where neurons assign value to things and can tamp down or ramp up our automatic responses of fear and delight.

So the connections made by these neurons make up the current value system of you or I which modifies or regulates our automatic responses into something more stable... Disassociation probably occurs here, as values start to change starkly when faced with danger of some sort.

Now imagine those neuron connections being subject to the neuroplasticity of the brain.. and how they change... I practice daily exercising these values... it can be difficult, but when one does, one begins to understand the underpinning of their emotional state.

As an addition... the Christian practice of forgiveness seems to be one of the methods in which to effect this part of the brain... resulting in less automatic reactions.

Generating our own meaning in life

This is excellent!

Belief and the Brains "God Spot"

Gotta check this one out... I'll be back later to comment.

Sometimes I miss you so much

A beautiful song by a friend of mine, which even to this day speaks to me.

Self Knowledge leads to Self Mastery

It is our attunement with this vast infinite intelligence which permits inspirations as impressions to come to us, to be interpreted by the brain consciousness as brilliant and revealing ideas. The more we devote ourselves to this base of the pyramid of consciousness--in other words, meditate upon and analyze self--the...... greater it becomes to us. - A Rosicrucian Manuscript

Is Autotheism another term for God Complex?

Personally I think the structural model is a great place to begin when assessing oneself or others.



Many times when one has a God Complex, one is identifying ego with the super-ego.

There is a lot to be said for integrating the two ("I and the Father are one"). But that's a lot different from the ego identifying with the super-ego.

In the situation where the ego identifies with the super-ego, it is merely jumping out of the way of the guilt being thrown at the ego by the super-ego through identification with it... yet the guilt still exists and is projected outward toward the world. In this situation, the sensation of God is still separate from the ego because in fact the two are not yet integrated within the individual.

However, during the process of integration, ("I and the Father are one"), the guilt disappears altogether. The sensation of God is not one "out there", it's one "in here". This is what is being referred to as "The kingdom of heaven is inside of you". Here is the kicker though... because the only way to achieve this integration is through the process of forgiveness for oneself, for others, for circumstance etc. So even though the integrated psyche now sits on the throne of God, it's not one that generates a sense of having authority over others because the psyche now has total authority over itself.

Many people stumble on the road to Autotheism and end up with complexes, because of something they just can't (or won't) let go of. In the end, one truly has to be "born again", "washed in the blood" or whatever phrase you like to apply which means they have stopped serving "Mammon" (or the external world) and instead "dwell within the kingdom".

Ironically, those with the most guilt based religious training as a child are the ones most apt to derive a complex, because they just can't let go of the sensation that there is someone outside of themselves that has authority over them, so integration never occurs.

God by John Lennon

This is probably my most favorite song of Johns next to Imagine.